Sunday, May 28, 2017

150 Years of Rutners in Kolodne

There were a lot of Rutners in the town of Kolodne in what is now Subcarpathian Ukraine (formerly Austria-Hungary and Czechoslovakia).  And it seems that they were there for quite a long time.
1795 Tolerance Tax Census

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Galperin, Halper, Altu--Who Are You?

When my grandfather's Uncle Leibish came to America in 1905, his destination was the home of a man named "Schloime Galperin" at what looked like 30 Kilbern Street in Brooklyn.  I couldn't find a Kilbern Street, and I couldn't find Schloime anywhere, including in the 1905 New York State Census when searching for different variations of Galperin, Halperin and Alperin.  But since Schloime was listed as a friend of Leibish's travel companion rather than a relative (and then Leibish's line just got ditto marks), I didn't spent that much time and effort into a search.
Leib Blaustein and Leib Dimend Ship Manifest, joining Schloime Galperin, 1905


Saturday, May 20, 2017

Lazarus Issues

[Note: As of May 25, 2017, GedMatch has a beta fix to Lazarus which will hopefully be pushed out shortly.]

Lazarus is one of the Tier 1 utilities offered by GedMatch.  It allows you to recreate at least some of an ancestor's genome, based on living relatives who have tested.  It takes two sets of kits--one set consists of descendants of the ancestor whose DNA you're trying to recreate (Group 1); the second set consists of non-descendant relatives of that individual (Group 2).

The utility basically looks at all of the DNA of those Group 1 descendants--some of which is that of the ancestor of interest but some of which is also those of other ancestors--and what segments those descendants have in common with known cousins, nieces, nephews, etc. from Group 2.  Those common segments should all come from the ancestor whose genome is being recreated.  (There is always the possibility, especially in endogamous populations, that you're including segments that are not inherited from that ancestor, but you can also include segments only over a certain size to try to account for that--but that's not the issue being raised in this post.)

I've created Lazarus kits of several of my ancestors.  But recently I've noticed that GedMatch no longer does comparisons of Lazarus kits to others correctly.  As an example, I recreated the genome of my great grandfather, Avraham Tzvi Diamond.  I've included five of his direct descendants (Group 1) and three relatives who are not descendants (Group 2)--a great niece, a great-great nephew, and a great-great niece.
Chart showing relationships.  Group 1 individuals are blue, Group 2 are green, and the kit being Lazarused is purple



Thursday, May 18, 2017

Cousin Jack--Add Being Deported and Deserting to His Story!

Oh, Cousin Jack.  Every time I post about the crazy paper trail you left behind, I find another nugget and get to write about you again!

I've already posted about the early life of my grandfather's first cousin Jacob "Jack" Landor, in which he was kidnapped, naturalized at least twice and was caught as a stowaway--you can read about that here.  I also found that he survived his ship being torpedoed and shipwrecked and wrote about that saga here.

But there's still more.  Since Jack was a merchant marine, he appeared on many ship manifests coming into the United States.  The first was the one where he was caught as a stowaway and was deported, as I wrote about in my first post about Jack.  That ship arrived in New York on March 19, 1930.  But apparently Jack really really really wanted to come to America.
Jack Landor Manifest, May 1930

Sunday, May 14, 2017

Partially Endogamous DNA

I've written a lot about my 100% Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) heritage and how that means I share way more DNA with known cousins than would be expected.  But what about people who have some AJ heritage but also have ancestors with other backgrounds?  Do they still need to account for endogamy?  To see how partial endogamy impacts amounts of shared DNA with relatives on the endogamous side, I looked at relatives who have tested who are partially AJ (including those that are 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 AJ) to see how endogamy impacts DNA they share with others.

Analysis of shared DNA for those with partial Ashkenazic Jewish ancestry (in blue) with known relatives (details below)

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Uncle Leibish, Found!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I was pretty sure I discovered what happened to my grandfather's Uncle Leibish--and that I was in touch with his grandson.  Everything seemed to fit, but there was still that little bit of uncertainty.

But then the grandson of Leibish/Louis dug out his father Harry's autobiography--and there was the proof.
From Harry Diamond's Autobiography

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Cousin Jack, Shipwreck Survivor Too!

I wrote earlier about my grandfather's first cousin, Jacob "Jack" Landor who had a colorful life.  He was kidnapped as a small child, was caught as a stowaway trying to get to the United States, applied for citizenship in at least two countries, and traveled the world.  That all is covered here.  But now it seems like he was part of another historic event.
Jack Landor, Arrival to Liverpool, 1943